Phoenix
by Catman99
Summary: The story of the Marauder's adventures in the Order of the Phoenix, from the perspective of Remus Lupin.
1. Into the Wild Blue Yonder

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters or other nice things created by J.K. Rowling, I'm just playing around with her stuff.

* * *

June, 1977

The Seventh Year graduation ceremony had been rather a suppressed affair given the circumstances. The eldest students in the school were leaving, that was true, but they were entering into a world in the midst of war. Voldemort and his supporters had been escalating their reign of terror over the Ministry, striking at half-blood and Muggle-born families, and the forboding glimpse of the Dark Mark was becoming an all-too familiar sight for many. Even the Ministry wasn't safe from the dark tendrils of Death Eater influence - the _Prophet _had broken the story a few weeks ago that dozens of mid-level employees had been discovered under the thrall of the _Imperius _curse. As paranoia gripped the wizarding world, it was difficult to think about one's future.

At least that was the way it seemed to Remus Lupin as he sat through an uncharacteristically long-winded speech from the unofficial, but undisputed, leader of free wizard Britain. Dumbledore's normally bright purple robes seemed to be a deeper, duller colour than normal, whether to lend some gravitas to the proceedings or due to a darker mood, Remus couldn't be sure. Either way the buzzwords of today's lecture appeared to be 'responsibility', 'preparation', and 'vigilance'. He didn't doubt that many of the students gathered there today knew the reality of the world outside the castle walls, but he was feeling it fresher than most.

He closed his eyes briefly to block out the smokey, flaming images that filled his mind, before forcing them open again. It would not do to dwell on that just now. Peter was giving him a slightly concerned look from the seat next to him, at which Remus shrugged and gave a wan smile. He hadn't yet told his friends about the grisly fate that had awaited him when he'd returned home at Easter earlier that year.

He suppressed a shudder and looked around the cavernous room they were sat in. The house tables that normally occupied the Great Hall had been vanished somewhere, and the benches re-arranged in long rows that faced the space normally filled with the teacher's table, now featuring Professor Dumbledore stood behind a lecturn. The big area at the back of the hall was full of more rows of seats, the back few levitating slightly to provide all of the family and friends a good view. The house colours on the walls had been replaced with the bright Hogwarts crest on black relief. He couldn't tell whether that was standard fare for Hogwart's graduation, or whether Dumbledore was trying to force a little bit of unity on them at the last minute.

Remus felt that he was more than united enough. His friends were gathered around him, even if they were a few seats away. James was leaning casually against Lily's seat, whispering something into her ear that was either hilarious or highly inappropriate, judging by the blush of pink in her cheeks. He'd seen the Potters sat down when he walked in, practically beaming at their only son, even if Mrs. Potter was looking a little frailer than the last time he'd spoken to her. Sirius was sat somewhere behind him, earnestly chatting away at Cathy Midgeon, a pretty Ravenclaw who he'd apparently decided was the only girl in the year that he hadn't attempted to hit on at least once. At least not as far as he could remember.

Peter had walked in with him, a little lost as to what he was supposed to be doing, as ever. Remus had instructed him to sit down, shut up, and stop fidgeting. His friend had managed to follow the instructions with a great pain, sat frozen and hunched over like some kind of petrified woodland animal. Or, indeed, like a trapped rat. He'd certainly dressed up for the occasion; he'd left his school robes crumpled up in the bottom of his trunk after they'd finished exams, and forgotten all about them. The subsequent attempt to iron them this morning had left a rather obvious singe mark on his cuff that Remus had tried not to laugh at too obviously. Much as Peter enjoyed laughing _with _them, he didn't much like being laughed _at_...

There were other, less savory, characters around the Great Hall. Remus was loathe to discover that he was only a few seats away from Snape, who was looking as slimy as ever, though he was very careful to keep a neutral face. The greasy git seemed to have his attention fixed on the headmaster, but Remus noticed his eyes darting around the room half a dozen times, always seeming to end up on Lily. Not that, that was particularly surprising, he had just assumed that Snape must have given up on his lost cause by now. He was sat next to an equally sinister character Broderick Avery, eyes as sharp and wicked as any Remus had ever seen.

Together they had been the current leaders of the little band of junior Death Eaters that Lucius Malfoy had left behind in their first year. Spiteful, clever, and violent, the group had tormented Muggle-borns and 'blood traitors' any chance they'd had. What was worse was that as the war had continued and intensified, their ranks had swelled and their knowledge of the dark arts had increased. As much as it was a warzone outside of the castle, Remus had often found himself clashing wands with the group of black-cloaked menaces in defence of younger students. The rest of the time he liked to keep his head down, leaving the broader heroics to James and Sirius.

Of course his thoughts were not completely occupied with his forthcoming graduation, the problems of the wizarding world, and the grisly scene that had been seared onto his retinas. No, part of his mind was dwelling on the immaculately presented piece of folded parchment that was sat in the upper pocket that Remus had stitched into his robe in third year. Red ink in that curiously slanted writing that he had come to know so well, embossed on thick, yellowy parchment that had to be worth a few sickles on their own. It could have been a slightly flashier version of the letter that he'd received seven years ago, telling him that Hogwarts would offer him a position, despite his 'condition'. It could have been, except for the seal on the red blob of wax that kept the note closed. It was not the Hogwarts crest, as it had been seven years ago, but a flaming phoenix in flight.

Remus was well aware what that seal signified, and what would be asked of him in that spidery scrawl that he was so familiar with. The letter remained unopened in his pocket.

'Having said that, I hope that your time here will remain an abidingly happy memory for you in the years to come, a silver beacon of good cheer to buoy your spirits when the aches and pains of the world wear upon you,' Dumbledore said, his speech apparently coming to some kind of close 'I, and the rest of the staff, take an immense amount of pride in congratulating you on your graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And remember - there will always be help here for those that need it,'

Applause sprung up from around the hall from parents, teachers, and students. Dumbledore's eyes roamed over the seats, the bright blue twinkle seeming to bore into Remus' skull in a way that was quite uncomfortable. Off to his left, by the great double doors, he noticed McGonagall looking slightly red-eyed as she clapped, although you wouldn't have been able to tell from the stiff way she stood. James, Sirius, Peter and himself had become some of the forboding Transfiguration teacher's favourite pupils over the years, although he couldn't quite place the reasoning for it. An encounter with her seemed just as likely to lose the house points as it was to gain them.

Dumbledore unfurled a large scroll that had been sitting idle on the podium in front of him, and began to call up the graduating students. Avery, Broderick was summoned to the front of the Great Hall, where the aged professor conjured up an embossed certificate from thin air and handed it to the young man. Dumbledore shook the young Death Eater's hand and said something quietly enough that it wouldn't carry to the rest of the hall, fixing him with those penetrating eyes.

The proceedings continued much the same way for a while and Remus felt himself slowly nodding off. It wasn't that his attention span was that short, but it was quite warm in the hall and he didn't really care about Foyle, Horatio, having not spoken to him once over the seven years they'd gone to school together. Now did not seem the time to start. He did notice Snape's weaselly little eyes light up when Lily's name was read out, and the Slytherin boy watched her get up with a hungry gaze. The only other highlight in the monotonous meeting was watching Sirius saunter up to the podium, completely ignore the parchment and embracing Dumbledore in a bear-hug that lifted the Supreme Mugwump off of his feet. Funnily enough, the old man spent longer talking to him than to anyone else.

And, not soon enough for Remus, his name was called. He stood up and awkwardly shuffled out of his row and walked to the front of the hall, tracked by the eyes of everyone in the room. He was thoroughly aware of how loud his shoes were as they landed on the floor, how threadbare his robes were compared to some of the wealthier students, the beads of sweat forming around his brow. A lifetime of hiding and protecting his...'furry little secret' had left him with an instinctual desire to avoid the limelight if possible.

Dumbledore's bright blue eyes locked with his light brown ones long before he'd actually reached the podium, boring into his skull. Remus took the certificate from his professor with his left hand, and grasped the older man's hand with his right.

'Congratulations Mister Lupin,' Dumbledore said, eyes sparkling 'You've completely justified my faith in you, and your ability to thrive within these halls. Let the cheeks of those who ever doubted you burn in shame,'

Remus gave a weak smile. It had taken a while to get used to the professor's...unique sense of humour, but the monthly post-transformation meetings had given him enough opportunity to get used to it. Dumbledore had been shaking his hand for an almost uncomfortably long time now.

'T-thank you professor,' he stammered. Dumbledore nodded, looking thoughtful for a second, before asking a question that he clearly already knew the answer to.

'You've not looked at my proposition yet, though, have you?' the aged teacher said.

'I think I know what it's going to say. Sir,' Remus said, remembering at the last minute who he was talking to 'But I will think about it,'

'See that you do, Mister Lupin,' Dumbledore said, the smile returning to his face 'I'd hate if I were not able to reap the rewards of my investment,'

As he walked back towards his seat, Dumbledore's words weighed down on his shoulders almost as heavily as the letter in his pocket.

* * *

The Seventh year Gryffindors had decided that their last night in school should be celebrated through the medium of dance, drink, and music. Lesser folk would have called it a party, and to Remus it did indeed share some of the characteristics of a party. However, as a founding member of the Marauders, he knew that this wasn't a real party. A real party was the Long Valentine's Weekend debacle, which had come together out of Sirius' newfound legal ability to buy alcohol, Valentine's Day falling on a Saturday, and James finally getting together with Lily. A skipped lesson and three full days of drinking later, Remus wasn't entirely sure of his name, let alone what he had done.

In comparison, this was more of a soiree. The Sixth years had joined them for a light beverage, and Remus had turned off his patented 'Prefect Glare', so he couldn't possibly have noticed that some of the Fifth years were having a drink too. Talk turned, perhaps inevitably, to their glory days. James and Sirius had gotten their brooms out inside and were re-enacting their famous two year old Quidditch victory against Slytherin. Sirius was doing this whilst drinking Butterbeer from the bottle. Remus supposed that this was impressive.

Remus, Peter, Lily, and Mary MacDonald had moved the comfy armchairs into a ring around the fireplace, and Peter was regaling them with his ferocious stand against Mulciber in their Fourth year.

'And then I tied his trousers round his ankles and he fell _right into _the puddle!' he shouted to laughter from the assorted crowd. Remus put on a faux-thoughtful face.

'I thought it was Sirius that did the trouser thing,' he said 'And you did the stinging hex,'

'Ah, no, Sirius was with you and James doing crowd control,' Peter said, nodding sagely.

'By crowd control do you mean me dragging Snivellus through the mud by his greasy hair?' Remus said with a grin. The group laughed again, though Lily tried to look disapproving. Her defence and affection of the Slytherin boy had lost some of their edge after she and James had caught him cursing first years on their prefect rounds a couple of months ago. It was all that James could do not to say 'I told you so'. Instead he and Sirius had constructed a three verse song to get the message across, and performed it in front of the entire common room.

'Hey, who's story is this?' Peter asked with a smirk.

'Yours, of course, quite right,' Remus said, giving a small smile then sinking back into the soft comfort of his armchair, taking a long sip of the Firewhiskey that they'd liberated from the kitchens. They'd found a box of Ogden's finest boxed up in a suspiciously obvious location, which had led Remus to speculate that this might be the teachers' unofficial farewell gift.

Peter puffed up his chest a bit and started carrying on his conversation, eyes darting to Mary quite often. Remus didn't roll his eyes, but it took a lot of effort and focus on his part. Peter wouldn't dare flit with Lily, James would rip his testicles off, but it seemed like her friends weren't out of bounds. Not that Mary seemed particularly interested. He was uncomfortably aware that her eyes kept roving over towards his chair instead, and some of the redness in his cheeks was not entirely due to the large quantity of alcohol in his belly.

Lily seemed to be thinking somewhere along the same lines.

'Peter, I think James and Sirius want a word,' she said gesturing vaguely over towards what had degenerated from a Quidditch match into a wrestling match of some kind. Peter tried valiantly to look like she hadn't made his day and went to join the oblivious boys.

'Mary, can you get me another drink?' Lily said, turning to her friend.

'Get it yourself!' Mary exclaimed with a slight Scottish lilt that never failed to raise a couple of hairs on his arm pleasurably. Something about that accent in a pretty young woman who was well aware of the effect she had on men...

'Pleaaaaase,' Lily asked, fluttering green eyes 'You know how I am when I've just got comfy. And I did just rid you of a pest...'

Mary made a noise that could only be described as 'hmph' and moved towards the spell altered trunk that was keeping the Butterbeers warm, her skirt fluttering past Remus' shoulder as she did. He knew that Lily was now staring intently at him and refused to give the satisfaction of dancing along to her tune.

But, the eyes were almost as potent as Dumbledore's, and he felt his resolve cracking.

'You shouldn't call Peter a pest,' he said settling on a mildly rebuking tone 'He's a good friend,'

'Well, obviously,' Lily said, rolling her eyes 'You know that. And I know that. But to Mary he's just this pudgy little guy who stares at her chest a bit longer than he should,'

'I wasn't aware that there was set time limit for that kind of thing,' Remus fired off on instinct, before silently cursing himself. Never give Evans an in...

'I'm sure there wouldn't be for you,' she said with a grin as her bookish friend played into her fiendish trap 'But then, Mary's always liked a man with scars...'

Remus frowned. Lily must have had a little more to drink that he'd thought; she would never have normally come out with something quite so forward as that. Or something with the probability for offending someone quite so much. Luckily for her, or perhaps she was fully aware of it, Remus had no real issue with the ragged scars that covered his face. Quite apart from the fact that he could barely remember getting them, there were other, more wearing side effects of his weekly transformation. Besides, as Lily had said, scars attracted a certain kind of girl. Although Mary MacDonald had never struck him as the type to be wowed by such things.

'Imagine how she'd feel if she knew I turned into a wolf every month. She'd be putty in my hands,' he said wryly. Lily rolled her eyes.

'Whereas the self pity act is where you really make a good impression,' she said 'Listen, Remus, I'm not asking you to marry the girl, just try talking to her. You're always so closed off! We reckon that-'

'Ah, so there's a we involve in this little plan?' Remus said, trying to hide his irritation with an injection of humour.

'It's a royal we,' Lily said, waving her hands abstractly.

'You and James?' he said carefully.

'And Sirius,' Lily admitted.

'Oh good,' Remus huffed 'So all of my friends think that I can't handle my own life,'

'It's not quite like that!' the Head Girl protested 'We just reckon that you're so scared of people finding out about the...ah...the fluffy little problem that you won't act on anything,'

'I'm not scared about them finding out,' he hissed 'I'm scared about them getting hurt. I'm a dangerous person Lily, and not just because I occasionally grow fangs. One thing that no-ones disagreeing with You-Know-Who about is that half-breeds are a dangerous blight on society. It won't be long before the mob picks up their trusty torch and pitchfork and decides to show us a lesson. Convincing a girl into throwing herself at me is not going to change that, and is going to get her hurt,'

There was silence between the two of them for a second, tense and uncomfortable. Remus took an angry sip of his Firewhiskey, taking slightly too much and burning his throat. He winced a little and sunk deeper into the armchair, as if he could hide out there for a while.

Lily broke the silence first.

'You know, she really didn't take any convincing,' she said brightly. Remus eyed her warily. 'Life's for living, Remus. There's no point locking yourself away just because some people take issue with what you are. That's letting them win, isn't it?'

'You and your damn relentless logic,' Remus muttered, not without a smile. Lily smiled and stood up as Mary came over.

'Thanks for the drink,' she said 'I'm going to find James,'

Mary glared at her as she sauntered off across the common room to find her boyfriend. She slumped down in the chair next to Remus.

'She could have bloody well got that drink herself!' she said. Remus tried very hard not to smile, and look vaguely sympathetic.

'She could well have done,' he said, unable to hide a smirk. Mary threw one of the plump, red Gryffindor cushions at him.

'Shut up,' she said 'I swear her and Potter are joined at the hip,'

'I think it's the pelvis,' Remus offered, before remembering who he was talking to and turning a bright red. He and Sirius had decided on that one together, and made sure that James was aware of it every second of every day. The alcohol was loosening his tongue and he cursed himself for it. He really needed to have a better control over himself. Mary merely raised a perfect eyebrow and smirked at him.

'I think you might be right,' she said, curling up in the armchair she'd settled in 'You know Remus, I'm not sure we've ever really had a proper conversation before. Just you and me,'

He considered it for a few seconds. Really he should politely change the subject and find something less...flirtatious to talk about. But then, Mary was particularly pretty tonight. Perhaps it was what Lily had said, or perhaps it was the warmth of the Firewhiskey in his throat. Or perhaps it was the fact that he was tired of constantly holding himself back from the world.

Remus smiled.

'Well, that's something we'll just have to change, isn't it?' he said softly.

It was a good night.

* * *

'Moony? Moony are you awake?'

The loud voice pierced the warm, contented darkness of his sleep and he winced. This had happened before. The best course of action was simply to keep your eyes shut and pretend you were in such a deep sleep that nothing short of a jet of cold water to the face would wake you up.

'Moony, I know you're awake. Your face is doing that funny crinkling thing you do when you're trying to pretend you're asleep,'

'Fuck off, Padfoot,' Remus muttered sleepily.

'Aha! I knew it! Come one, get up,' Sirius said, poking his friend in the forehead with his wand. Remus flinched and tried to swat it away.

'I've got to say, when I came looking for you I wasn't expecting this,' Sirius said in that way that was obviously trying to get a rise out of him 'I didn't know you had it in you mate! Congratulations are in order,'

When Sirius Black started congratulating you for something you weren't aware you'd done, it was time to wake up and situate yourself. Brown eyes flicked open, and immediately winced shut again. The light in the Gryffindor common room was low, but it was enough to send spikes of pain directly into his skull. He must have had more to drink than he remembered. Or, possibly, kept drinking after his memory had stopped.

Fully committing to being awake now, Remus could feel a warm weight on his chest. His bare chest. Looking down he could see Mary MacDonald's sleeping form curled against him, her head resting peacefully above his heavily thumping heart. Mercifully the Scottish girl appeared to still be dressed, though he wasn't able to actually move her as he searched around desperately for the shirt that had apparently been pulled off him earlier in the night. It was not helped by Sirius snickering at him.

'Are you going to help me, or are you going to stand there being the world's least useful flea colony?' Remus hissed, utterly mortified.

'Hey, remember that time that McGonagall just 'happened' to find me trying to get Henrietta Spinnet into the Room of Requirement?'

'That was last week,'

'Consider this payment,' Sirius said with an evil smirk, holding aloft both his friend's shirt and the girl's bra. Remus spluttered, then remembered that it was probably best Mary didn't wake up right about now.

'How did you-?' he asked, his voice as menacing as possible whilst affecting a stage whisper. Sirius shrugged, as though butter wouldn't melt in his evil, Pureblood mouth, although he wasn't able to drop the dopey smirk.

'Let's just say, when I found you, neither of you were wearing as much...although I did have to break through a couple of privacy charms,' Sirius admitted.

'Wouldn't it have been easier to just leave us there until people found us in the morning?' Remus said wearily.

'Yes, but this way you know that _you _were the one besmirching this poor girl's honour, and _I_ saved both of your reputations. And I've scattered various items of clothing around the common room. It's delicious! So not only do I have blackmail for future us, you actually owe me one! It's brilliant, even if I do say so myself. Plus, now you're awake, and you can get up,' Sirius said, almost bouncing with glee as he explained his warped thinking. Remus had to admit that his friend had a point.

Carefully, the young werewolf eased the sleeping girl's head off of his chest and rolled out from underneath her, landing on the floor quietly, if not gracefully. He stood up, snatching his shirt off of Sirius and tried to make himself look somehow respectable.

'Where's Prongs?' he asked, pulling on the one sock that he could find. Sirius shrugged.

'I think Lily took him upstairs to polish his Head Boy's badge,' he said, nodding sagely. Remus managed to avoid rolling his eyes.

'I see,' he said 'Well, what do you want then?'

Sirius grabbed the two broomsticks that he and James and been frolicking on earlier and threw one of them to Remus, who caught it deftly in one hand. Flying had never really been one of his strong suits, but it wasn't like he didn't know how to use a broom. It was just that he preferred that his feet stayed on the ground at all times, like nature had intended.

'It's our last night in Hogwarts, and I intend to do something that I've never gotten around to until now,' Sirius said, eyes ominously bright.

Remus resigned himself to following his friend as he bounded up the spiral staircase to their room at the top of Gryffindor tower, reasoning that at the very least he might be able to save the castle from burning down. They reached their room, and snuck in quietly, doing their best to ignore James' bed, the curtains of which were drawn shut and completely still. And silent. And obviously not charmed to cover up illicit activity.

Sirius moved over to the window and unlocked it, pushing it open to let the cool night's air in. And then, without a word or a look back at Remus, jumped out of the window. Before his reasonable brain checked him, Remus' heart leapt into his mouth - Sirius was an idiot at times, but never suicidal. Then the memory of the broom kicked in and he couldn't help but feel rather embarrassed at his almost overt display of concern. Covering it, he hurried over to the open window and hopped out on his broom, rising gently through the sky outside the tower to where his friend was waiting.

Wordlessly they both flew up the last few feet to the very top of Gryffindor Tower, and landed on the very edge of the top turret. The view was breath-taking. It was getting towards a full moon, as Remus was so painfully aware, and that silver light illuminated the whole of the Hogwarts grounds. He could see the black water rippling on the Great Lake, something stirring in the shallows that had to be the giant squid. Behind it, ominous as it ever was, was the Forbidden Forest - home to some of the more dangerous misadventures the Marauders had ever perpetuated. Spiders, centaurs, and...others. It was a place to be avoided.

And, perhaps inevitably, Remus felt his eyes being dragged towards the Whomping Willow. The branches were waving in the light breeze, though perhaps a little quicker, and a little more fluidly than a tree ever had a right to. It reminded him of the picture of a hyrda he had seen in the advanced DADA textbook, all waving, snakelike heads that could snap at him at any moment. And all in that eery, bone white. Perhaps it was more a skeletal hand.

It was there for him, that blot on the Hogwarts landscape. There so he could hide himself away from innocent people and protect him from the monster inside himself. He had tainted this perfect place, just a little bit, in order to come to school and make friends his own age. Selfish? A little. Maybe more than a little.

But it was still a nice view.

Sirius had produced a bottle of something from somewhere on his person - a habit he seemed to have developed this past year. Remus took it with a nod of satisfaction and pulled the cork out, taking a sip. Bitter, with a kick that fought and burnt it's way down his throat. He considered it for a second before taking another sip and passing it back.

'Padfoot, this is one of your better ideas,' he admitted quietly, watching the stars glittering silently across the sky.

'I don't know why I never thought of it before,' Sirius murmured, almost to himself 'Although, I suppose this is fitting on our last night. Looking over our domain,'

They were silent for a few more seconds.

'Well, we're moving out into the world now,' Remus said, with a cheer he didn't feel 'Know what you're planning to do yet?'

Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment identical to the one burning a hole inside Remus' robes. Although this one had been ripped open and read thoroughly. And someone had apparently managed to spill coffee over it at one point.

'_This _is what I'm doing,' he said, waving the parchment in front of Remus' face, before frowning 'Wait, you got one too right? James said he was sending them out to everyone,'

Remus nodded slowly and pulled his letter out of his pocket 'Yeah, I got one too,'

His friend frowned.

'I see why you're so glum about it Moony, old boy! You've forgotten to open it! It's one of the key aspects of any important piece of postage, it must be-'

'I know exactly what it is,' Remus interjected quietly 'I just...If I accept this invitation then it's pretty much guaranteeing that I don't get to have a normal life. I mean, it seems an awful lot like declaring war, what Dumbledore's planning. Don't get me wrong, I think he's got the right idea. Just...not for me maybe. I'd rather just find a nice little cottage somewhere, get a collection of books going, and sit this whole thing out. I'm not like you and Prongs, I don't get off on playing super secret agent hero,'

'Ha! You really think that you have a choice in the matter?' Sirius said, letting out his bark of a laugh 'This whole thing's been bubbling about open war for a while anyway. The intimidation, the disappearances, the Dark Mark. You think Voldemort will stay away from you because you elect to 'stay out of it'? Get real Moony. He and his band of inbreds will be after you one way or another. Half-bood, half-breed, what does it matter? You have less of a choice in this than I do mate, which is saying something considering cousin Bellatrix's opinion on me,'

'That's hardly fair,' Remus snorted.

'You said it. I think she's got some kind of crush on me. One of those Black 'keeping it in the family' things,' he said, wiggling his eyebrows up into his hair.

'I suppose your animal magnetism has to work on something other than the Hogsmede strays,' Remus muttered.

'Yeah, well, that's the other reason they want to take me out - I could convert the entire witching population of Britain with a twitch of my hips. Yeah, old Snake-face has us trapped in a corner alright. I plan to go out swinging though,' Sirius said, his face turning unusually earnest for a second or two, before adopting his usual smirk.

'Padfoot old friend, we really need to cut down your intake of Muggle films. It's starting to mess with your sense of reality,' Remus said, then saw the look in his friend's eye 'Well maybe it was pretty warped already,'

'So, you in?' Sirius asked, offering the bottle like a personal reward for some kind of commitment. Remus rolled his eyes and grabbed the foul drink.

'Was there ever any doubt? I'm in this with you and Prongs for the long haul Padfoot. Wormtail is too,' he said and took a long burning gulp of the drink 'What is this anyway?'

'Dunno, found it in Filch's cupboard,' the heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black said, with a trademark shrug 'To your health Moony,'

'Well, we've got something new to toast now, old friend. To the Order of the Phoenix,'

'To the Order of the Phoenix,'

* * *

**AN:** So I've started another, more refined version of a story I tried and cocked up years ago. Please review if you have the time and inclination, but try and keep it constructive if you can. At the same time - please point out spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Nothing annoys me more than looking through old work and finding it's been published with mistakes.


	2. The Meeting

Three Months Later

'So how did things go with Mary?' James asked, pouring tea from a horribly floral teapot that looked like it had come with the dingy flat they were sat in. Remus spared a glance around the cramped living room, with it's peeling wallpaper and dark patches of damp, and couldn't help but feel that his friends had found the least hospitable place possible to live in. Whilst James had a vast personal fortune to use as and when he liked, he didn't really have much access to the Potter Vault at the moment. His normally amiable parents had taken issue with his living with a girlfriend so soon after Hogwarts, something about "living in sin".

And so the pair had turned down Sirius' very earnest offer to bunk in with he and Remus, and had started renting a flat in London whilst James tried to smoothe things over. Why they had to choose the most depressing flat currently on offer in the Greater London area was beyond him, though at least it had a fireplace that they'd hooked up to the Floo Network. Peter's living conditions weren't a whole lot better, but that was mainly because he was still living with his rather formidable mother.

'Oh, they didn't really,' Remus said mildly, stirring some sugar into his cup with a spoon as old as Sirius' family 'She asked me to owl her at some point, but I never got around to it. I suppose it would be rather awkward now,'

'Don't give me that crap Moony, I'm sure if you'd actually answered any of her letters it might go a bit easier...' James said, pouring topping his cup up with an overly zealous splash of milk. The werewolf narrowed his eyes warily.

'Has Sirius been telling you my business again?' he snapped. James shrugged.

'Personally, I like to think of it as our business...' Potter said, then laughed at the look on his friend's face 'If you didn't want your story telling to the entire world, you shouldn't have opted to live with a bigger gossip than Lily's sister!'

Remus shrugged in bitter agreement at that. To be honest, it wasn't as though he had much of a choice in the matter seeing as most landlords weren't overly pleased with having a werewolf in their building and the Ministry got funny if he didn't mention it to them. And if they were on the level, then they wouldn't have anywhere suitable to store him on the night of the full moon. It was one thing having the wolf running around the abandoned Hogwarts' grounds with his friends, but Remus refused to let it loose on the streets of London, friends or no.

'I'm too dangerous for her. Especially now that we're officially Dumbledore's errand boys, complete with Death Eater shaped target on our heads,' Remus said, blowing on his tea before taking a sip. He daren't put it down on the coffee table for fear of it falling through the surface.

James instead grinned at the slightest mention of the Order of the Phoenix. James and Lily had been instrumental in helping Dumbledore set the defensive organisation into motion. Whilst the aging headmaster had important contacts in the Ministry of Magic, such as the rather worrying Alastor Moody, he wasn't quite so well informed on some of the younger members of the wizarding world. James and Lily had made the suggestions, which Dumbledore had signed off on almost wholly, then written off to the friends they'd made during their time at Hogwarts.

The perks of being the most popular couple in their year.

'Come on mate, it's not all daring midnight chases and duels at high noon. You're not any more dangerous now than you were before. Anyway, maybe she's one of those girls that gets off on her boyfriend turning into a furry monster once a month?' James asked, sinking down into a sofa that may once have had a pattern but was now a bleak grey. At that, Remus raised an eyebrow.

'Do you really think that what we're doing isn't dangerous, Prongs?' he asked quietly. James shrugged.

'Well, it's not like anyone's actually taken any shots at us yet, is it?' he retorted.

Remus frowned and looked down at his tea. It was true, the Order hadn't actually gotten into any scraps so far. Most of the work they had been doing over the past three months had been information gathering and stakeouts, for which Remus was relieved to have drawn Peter as a partner. He really wouldn't have been comfortable with Mad-Eye watching over his every move. So no, so far the work they were doing hadn't proved any more dangerous than before. For a war that had supposedly started seven years ago, Voldemort and his followers had been surprisingly sparing with their brutal murders and intimidation, focusing on perceived weaknesses in the might of the Ministry

But then he supposed that was why Dumbledore had formed the Order. The random attacks on Muggles were increasing, there were more reports of the Dark Mark over murder scenes, and the headmaster had feared that there were new, worrying breaches in the Ministry's armour. The fearsome Minister for Magic, Eldritch Diggory, had been single handedly holding feuding departments and feral aurors together by sheer, bloody force of will. Something had changed, and Dumbledore wanted a body of people around him that he could trust absolutely.

How long was it before those trustees became targets in their own right?

'Not yet,' he admitted solemnly. Perhaps it was naive of him, but he didn't really want to spoil the mood by talking about their impending death. He wasn't sure of when they'd be able to chat like this again. James smiled as though he'd won a significant victory, and sipped a little more tea.

'Anyway, enough about my impending monkhood. How are things going with Lily?' Remus asked, his voice full of far more cheer than he thought.

'Excellent as always,' he said with a smirk 'She can't resist my innate charm,'

'I'm sure that's what it is,'

'Oh did I tell you, I met her sister again?' James said, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

'What, the horsefaced one? This should be good,' Remus said, settling into his seat in preparation for a patented Potter tale.

'Yeah, we went to her wedding!' his friend said 'It was the most bizarrely Muggle thing I've ever seen. It was in this great big church, and the blokes all had top hats and these odd coats with stiff little tails at the bottom, and the girls all had weird hats or hairbands on. Me and Lily sat at the back, tried not to cause a fuss or anything, but after the ceremony (which was _long_) they have this little procession where everyone walks past the wedding party and has a little chat with them. Petunia just sniffs at us, and Vernon completely ignores us - walrus-faced git refused to shake my hand, like it was going to give him leprosy. Anyway, the best bit is even later. I heard him telling some of his business buddies that I was just a stage magician -'

'Oh Merlin,' Remus breathed, preemptively wincing at whatever his friend was going to do next.

'Exactly - a stage magician! One of those little Muggle clowns that pulls rabbits out of hats. And an amateur one at that The nerve of the fat bugger. So, when Lily was chatting with her parents, I may've cast a little charm...'

'Prongs, that's seriously illegal,' Remus warned.

'The pair of them made Lily cry,' James said, all humour lost from his voice for a second, as though it excused what he'd done. Which, in Remus' eyes, it probably did. The werewolf sighed and nodded.

'Alright, what did you do?'

'It was that little tourettes jinx we worked out fourth year,' James said 'I mean, just for a little while. Just in front of his boss. Should hold up the promotion he was talking about for a couple of months or so,'

'And you're proud of that?'

'Only a little bit,' James said, with a grin. Remus rolled his eyes, but couldn't help returning it. That was the thing with James Potter - he was infectious, and not in the bitey way. He was fun, he was dangerous, but most of all, he was friendly. He got you to go along with his hare-brained schemes because _you_ wanted to, not because he made you. And the look on his face now was one that Remus had known for seven years - it was the one James got when he'd thought up a really dangerous plot that he was going to have to convince everyone else of.

'It has got me thinking though,' he admitted. And now Remus knew why he'd been invited over for tea - James had a plan.

'Something's gotten you thinking? Do tell me so I can share the secret with the world for the betterment of mankind,' Remus declared, his eyebrows raising into his hairline. James waved him away with a regal hand.

'The wedding. It was actually quite pretty. And everyone seemed to be having a good time, and it all seemed right and everything. Plus, the way everything's heading. I mean, it's going to get dangerous. I do know Remus. It's going to get dangerous, and we might die. So I want to...show her. That I love her. I want something real, for her to know how much she means to me. So I was thinking. It might be...nice. Might be...right. For me and Lily. I mean, even though it was really very Muggle and smug, and full of itself I thought that...I might like to get married. To Lily. I mean to say, I might like to...I want to ask Lily to marry me,"

Remus raised an eyebrow. That was not at all what he'd expected.

'Are you going to ask her like that? 'Cos that might take a while...' he said, burying the smirk down underneath practiced layers of frowns. Instead of amused, James looked panicked, worried, and completely out of his depth.

'Come on Moony mate, what do you think? Me asking Lily to marry me. Not now obviously, when the money picks up a bit, and when mum and dad get over the whole 'sin' thing. Although actually, if we were getting married, they might get over it...and we'd get access back to the vault, and I could get her an engagement ring. Emerald maybe? Like her eyes?' James said, getting that painfully earnest, slightly wild look that he got in his eye every time he really talked about Lily. It had been an ever present aspect of their friendship throughout their Hogwarts years and Remus knew just how to handle it.

The werewolf leaned forward and slapped his friend hard across the face.

'Sorry mate, you were off on one,' he said apologetically, settling back down in his seat 'But yeah, I think it's a great idea. For some reason Lily seems to genuinely love you. I still think she's spell damaged in some way,'

'Thanks,' James said, slightly dazed 'Yeah...yeah, it _is _a good idea. I tried to mention it to Sirius, but he was on about his new bike, and I'm not sure he'll be so thrilled about the idea. You know what he gets like some times,'

'He'd be happy for you! He loves Lily! And he loves you and Lily. Just not when you're being you and Lily on his bed,'

'That was only once!'

'It was twice - that we know of! Anyway, he'd be thrilled with it. An opportunity to get off with all the lovely bridesmaids? He'll see it as a personal challenge, how many can he manage in one night,' Remus said with a smirk. James responded with an evil grin of his own.

'We can see what he makes of Petunia,'

* * *

The two chatted on for a little while longer, before Lily got back from work carrying a hot parcel of fish and chips that the three shared. They spoke for a while after that, about the Order, about living arrangements and work. It was with a heavy heart that Remus noticed his watch making an irritating jingling that meant he was about to be late. He sighed, pushing himself up out of the surprisingly comfy seat. Duty called, etc. He helped himself to some Floo powder from the empty tin can above James' fireplace and threw it into the fire.

'The Hog's Head,' Remus said, stepping into the swirling, smokey vortex. He couldn't have come from home, Sirius refused to set the flat up to the network. Something to do with preventing unexpected visits from his relatives.

He stepped out of the smokey fireplace into an equally smokey pub floor. It was barely breaking into autumn yet, but the decidedly dodgy Hogsmede pub had stoked a roaring fire to warm the place, when it wasn't Flooing. Remus supposed that it got cold enough up in Scotland to demand a fire this early in the year, though that may also have had something to do with the cold-blooded nature of the clientele. He walked over to the bar.

'My name's Underhill,' he said, trying to sound confident, and praying he'd used the right codephrase. The barman looked up and fixed him with brilliant blue eyes that poked out from a face obscured by an untidy bear.

'Aye,' he grunted, stepping out from behind the bar and guiding Remus through the smokey floor, down the beer cellar, and into the back room. Without another word being said, the bartender disappeared again, leaving Remus with the odd feeling that they had met before. The door to the back room sat at the very end of the dark, dank cellar - a thick, oak door with a big metal knocker. When he grabbed the thing, it glowed a brilliant red, and the door swung open before him. Something suggested to Remus that if he hadn't belonged there something much nastier might have happened.

Inside the secret room was a large table with four seats, three of which were already full. Peter was here already, studying a map intently with a stunning blonde in turquoise robes that Remus wasn't sure he had met before. A wizened head looked up from the table.

'Ah, Lupin, you made it,' the wizard grunted, electric blue eye spinning in his head.

'Right on time Alastor,' Remus said, sounding more confident than he felt as he took the empty seat 'Don't suppose you have an idea where I know the barman from?'

'Eh? How should I know? I don't need the barman to show me the secret room in the Hog's Head,' the veteran auror scoffed, as though the very idea of him not knowing a secret was impossible to him. Which it quite possibly was.

'I hear that's Dumbledore's brother,' the gorgeous woman said, nodding her head in acknowledgement to Remus 'I'm Marlene by the way. Marlene McKinnon,'

'Remus Lupin,' he said, shaking her offered hand smoothly 'Charmed I'm sure,'

Remus thought that he caught the twinkling of merriment in Marlene's eye before Moody cut in again, as abrupt and blunt as ever.

'Marlene's dad taught me everything I knew. Well, most stuff,' he said with a grim chuckle 'I've been returning the favour, training her up since she passed auror training,'

Remus gave the grizzled auror a nod, grateful for the brief introduction. It was strange to be talking to such a famous, and feared, figure on the level of a somewhat equal. During their first meeting Moody had declared that since they were supposed to be trusting each other with their lives, he'd not be looking down on folk for their relative youth, or immaturity. He'd finished that last bit by staring at Hagrid, the huge Hogwarts gamekeeper, who'd blushed and looked away. Having said that Moody had still gone out of his way to give the most recent Hogwarts graduates menial roles. Because, trust notwithstanding, you could never be too careful.

'Not that I'm living in my father's considerable shadow,' Marlene muttered, rocking backwards on her chair.

'Can't be helped,' Moody grumbled 'He was a great man. Anyway, onto business. Lupin, you and Pettigrew have a map of the Lestrange residence and the surrounding area. We've got a shack out on the grounds for you to keep watch on. It's got a pretty good view of the entrance, but you might want to use some of the surveillance charms I taught you. Me and Marlene will be down the road watching the entrance, under an invisibility charm. Can either of you cast a talking patronus?'

Remus raised his hand, eyes on the map but listening intently to Moody's every word. The auror grunted.

'Right, if anything goes amiss, you'll be the one to contact me. The meeting should go on until around midnight, but we'll be there until the early hours to keep track of their movements. If they catch onto us and make a break for it, let them go. This is a surveillance operation only, the Order doesn't want a straight up fist fight with the Death Eaters. We're still trying to keep a low profile,'

Feeling a little spell-shocked, Remus tried to absorb what Moody was saying. Essentially, it was keep an eye out but don't get caught. And no heroics. That was something that would probably come easy enough to him. He had spent a large amount of his erstwhile career as a Marauder watching the backs of three people who hadn't enough common sense to do it themselves. Peter yawned loudly and took a large gulp of the goblet of mead he had on the table next to him. Moody pounced on him like a cat on a particularly bumbling rat.

'PETTIGREW!' he yelled, making everyone jump in their seats 'You falling asleep over there? Life and death situations aren't exciting enough for you, eh? Well come over here, I've got some Pepper-Up Potion in my pack somewhere,'

'But daaaaad, I'm not sleepy,' Peter mumbled to himself as he stood up, snorting as he locked eyes with Remus, who wasn't sure provoking Moody was a good way to go. Something told him that the old goat's hearing was just as sharp as his magically enhanced sight. The young man was dragged over to a large shoulder bag that clanged ominously as the auror rifled through it. Marlene nodded her head at the pair.

'Whatever happened to him?' she asked Remus. The werewolf raised an eyebrow.

'What, Moody? I just thought he'd had enough body parts blown off that he was precious about looking after the rest. You'd know, family friend and all,' he muttered quietly. He received a playful slap for his troubles.

'Not Mad-Eye, Pettigrew. I was a couple of years above you lot, and I remember a little fat boy running around after the rest of you, squeaking whenever Sirius would hex him for a laugh. What changed?' she murmured, eyes fixed on the shorter man.

'You knew Sirius?' Remus asked, genuinely surprised. He was sure Sirius would have mentioned acquaintance with a blonde bombshell. And gloated about it. Marlene frowned.

'All the girls knew Sirius,' she muttered 'But that's not my point - Pettigrew?'

'Ah. Well Wo-Peter grew up a bit in our fifth year. He started getting better grades, started standing up to Sirius and James more, and he developed a bit more of a backbone. It helps that he started to fill out as well, looked less like a beachball. By our seventh year he was just as much a hellraiser as any of the rest of us. More than others even,' Remus said.

Most of that was true, but there was more to Peter's remarkable transformation from snivelling wretch to fully fledged Marauder. The animagi spells were some of the hardest magic it was possible for a wizard to learn - to literally change your form into that of another creature. Despite the fact that James and Sirius had helped him with it, and despite his transformation into a rather ignoble rat, Peter had been rightly proud of mastering such complex transfiguration work. Plus, their ability to transform and help Remus was a secret that had brought them together. It was hard to belittle someone who shared in your deepest, darkest secret, even for Sirius and James.

He smiled at Marlene 'Some people just grow up,'

'Maybe,' the young auror said, nodding her head carefully 'Or maybe he was just smarter than he let on in the first place,'

Remus snorted, then remembered himself. It had been a long time since their first years, and they had all grown a lot. He shrugged.

'Maybe,' he admitted 'But I've known him a lot longer than you have. I'm fairly sure that he's only got the one level to him,'

'And what about you Mr Lupin? I remember you as the ill boy in the corner with all the books, trying to catch up on last week's homework. Have you changed too?' Marlene asked, far more playfully than she had before.

'We all of us change,' he said carefully, keeping his face level.

'I mean, here you are in a secret organisation, talking to a real life woman! I'd have never believed it of you,' she said with a smirk. Remus responded in kind.

'Oh, are you a woman? You know, I hadn't noticed...' he said. He had, of course, noticed very definitely that Marlene McKinnon was a woman. A certain hungry, wolfy part of him had picked out the most delectable parts on Miss McKinnon the second he had sat down next to her, and my were there a lot. Still, it wouldn't do to have him slavering over poor defenceless women, despite the fact that the auror almost certainly wasn't defenceless.

'I'm sure you haven't Mr Lupin. After all, you've been very carefully meeting my eyes this entire time,' she said, light blue eyes boring into his. They weren't as bright as Dumbledore's, or as frighteningly electric as Moody's, but they were memorable in their own way. Soft eyes on a pretty face that complemented her luxurious hair. It would be hard to forget.

'I'm a very careful person,' he said, licking at his suddenly dry lips.

Someone coughed loudly by his right ear. Remus turned his head slightly to see Moody's face pressed almost against his.

'Am I interrupting something?' he growled. Remus tried not to jump back in alarm. He wondered if Moody had any wolf blood in him...

'Not at all,' Remus said graciously, pushing his chair back and out of range of Moody's glare. He could have sworn that he could hear Marlene trying to suppress a chuckle at his predicament.

'Oh good. I'd hate to think that you all had something more important to do than to save the wizarding world,' the older man barked, fixing Marlene with a glare 'Even though some of you shouldn't have to be reminded,'

'Right, are we off then?' Peter said brightly, coming to the rescue. Moody hesitated for a second, and Remus tried to make his face as impassive as possible. Eventually the grizzled auror shrugged as if trying to shift the weight of the world off of his shoulders.

'Off with you both, we'll set up in about half an hour,' he said, waving them away with thick, scarred hands. As Remus and Peter scurried out of the meeting room, he could have sworn that he heard Moody muttering darkly.

'Spare me hormonal idiots in love,'

As the pair trotted out into the crisp autumn's night of Hogsmede, glad to get some fresh air after the smoke filled tavern, Remus could not help but picture Marlene's eyes. Peter was chatting happily about something inconsequential, so he was not forced to listen as they prepared to apparate to Yorkshire, but his mind was otherwise distracted.

Oh bugger, he thought to himself, this is probably going to turn into an issue.

His head was still in a muddle when the two figures disappeared with a crack into the night.


	3. First Blood

Lestrange Estate, Yorkshire

It was dark as Remus and Peter crept up on Lestrange Manor, which was almost definitely for the best since the werewolf found it hard to be stealthy with a sack on his back. They'd approached the grounds from the woodland to the south, far away from the grand entrance to the large, looming house that dominated the landscape. The treeline obscured their view after they'd apparated into the woods and it was only after they'd trekked for fifteen minutes that they could actually see their target.

'It's massive,' Peter breathed as they cleared the trees.

'Well you can't expect purebloods to live in abject poverty now, can you?' Remus said smoothly, though he privately shared his friend's view. He'd never seen a manor quite as grand as that, not even on his summer trips to the Potters'. Though he supposed that folk such as the Lestranges' would have little worry about flaunting their wealth. He had a feeling that they worried even less about Muggles wandering onto the property - rumour had it that those who made it past the misdirection wards met a sticky end in the woods, tracked down by trained dogs.

As they got closer to the grounds they came up to a long black fence that stretched off into the distance. It wasn't particularly tall, Remus could have hopped over it if he wanted, but he felt a palpable tingle of dread as he waved his hand in front of it. From the twitching of his face, Peter had found the same thing.

'I guess we're not going over it,' Peter muttered. Remus shook his head, looking over the sinister black posts that jutted cruelly out of the ground, taking his wand out and running it over the space in front of the fence.

'Reckon we can walk around it?' Peter asked, crossing his arms with a frown. Remus had always been the expect on the theoretical side of defensive magic, even if Sirius and James excelled in their practical DADA lessons.

'No, I don't think so,' the werewolf murmured under his head, sweeping his hair back from his eyes distractedly. He took a step back, thrust his wand forwards and tapped a black post, which hissed violently and let off a foul smelling green smoke. He moved the wand tip to the left and got a less volatile reaction, though still some dangerous smoking.

'I've got an idea,' he said 'There isn't as much of a force working between the bars as on them. If you transform, I can shield you and put you between the bars. You should be all right,'

'Should be?' Peter said with an unsure snort 'I'm very much comforted. Will I be able to turn it off from the other side?'

'Of course,' Remus said with more confidence than he felt 'Who'd make a fence that they couldn't turn off?'

That said, if he'd created a magical fence to keep out intruders, he'd have made sure it could only be turned off by his wand. They'd cross that bridge when they came to it. Peter gave a sigh then shifted into a small brown rat. Crouching down, he took the rat up in his left hand and carried it over to the fence.

'Well here goes nothing,' he muttered, to which the rat squeaked with alarm. Before Peter could change his mind, Remus shoved him through the black bars.

'_Protego_!' he shouted, forming a small spherical shield around the rat as it left his hand and scarpered through the gap. Unfortunately the shield didn't protect his hand which he pulled back from the perimeter with a hiss, green smoke coming from a harsh burn on his palm. Peter, on the other hand, appeared on the other side of the fence with nary a hair out of place.

'Well that wasn't so bad,' he admitted jovially 'You alright there Moony?'

'Just fine,' Remus hissed, clutching his burnt hand to his chest 'Feel free to turn off the fence now,'

Peter nodded and shut down the dark enchantment with a few choice swipes of his wand. As he did so, the burning pain seemed to lessen in Remus' hand, and he felt able to continue. He wordlessly hopped the fence, landing on the well-tended lawn besides Peter. Remus tapped the fence again, deciding they had better turn it on lest someone notice it's absence. Luckily his burn didn't seem to hurt this side of the fence, though he was sure he'd have to get it seen to later.

In silence the pair made their way to the gamekeepers hut on the edge of the grounds, only a few metres away from where they'd climbed the fence. Apparently someone in the order, Moody wasn't saying who, had made sure that Mr Harold Penwicky was feeling rather under the weather this evening, so that the hut wouldn't be occupied. It wasn't exactly pretty compared to the opulence of Lestrange Manor, but it kept the water off and it had a clear view of the grounds. And, most importantly, they had an unobstructed view of the great dining room which would undoubtedly hold the Death Eater meeting.

Peter charmed the lock off with a simple _alohomora _and the pair went inside. Remus carefully placed the sack he'd been carrying over his shoulder onto the floor and started making preparations for the surveillance. First out came the telescope that Remus had used at Hogwarts for astronomy. Instead of the top of the astronomy tower, it now found itself nestled between the blackout curtains of the shack, pointed towards the manor. Luckily for the Order, the Lestranges apparently wanted no reminder that they employed servants on their grounds, so they were able to use the curtains to hide a small light to see by.

'_Apparati vestigo_,' Remus breathed, waving his wand at the black quill Moody had given him in a weird wiggling motion. The grizzled auror had assured him that this would track the number of people apparating onto the property, where they had come from, and where they were heading to. Most of the complex charmwork was in the quill, which apparently even the head of the auror department had had trouble getting hold of.

He pulled out a long reel of parchment from his sack and laid it out on the rickety table that the groundskeeper used, placing the quill at the top. Peter conjured up a couple of reasonably comfy chairs for them to sit on, and pulled another set of writing materials for notes. Remus set his chair down in front of the telescope and put it to his eye, adjusting it to focus more clearly on the expansive dining room.

'I don't suppose some music would go down well?' Peter asked dryly.

'Moody would probably rip our spleens out through our throats,' Remus responded 'Around on a five on the scale of auror irritation,'

'We've survived worse,' the shorter animagus said, ready with his notes and leaning back in his seat. Remus grunted noncommittally, and checked back with the telescope. The quill picked itself up and began to take furious notes. Remus checked his watch, then pressed his eye to the glass.

'I make it twenty past ten by my watch. That's ten minutes earlier than noted. First guest arriving. Wearing robes and Death Eater mask, the moron - no wait, they've just come off. Ah, it's Travers. That explains that," Remus read off, quietly but clearly.

Peter didn't respond, but noted down his observations word for word.

'First name?' he asked mildly, eyes flicking up. Remus frowned.

'Can't say for sure. William? Wilhelm? Wally? Put a question mark by it, I'll check with Moody's face cards later,'

'Okay, got it,'

'Good. Twenty-three past ten, two more guests...'

The night dragged on very slowly. The main focus of the stakeout was to make thorough notes of who was there, and who was doing the most talking. A number of the guests were new Death Eater blood, and Remus supposed that Moody would have to update all the information he was keeping on current members. He recognised a few of them from his school days, but those he didn't he had Peter mark with a question mark. Later they could cross-reference them with the locations the Apparation tracker listed, and get a vague idea of who they might be.

That was the main purpose of the Order at this point, apart from the moral stand that Dumbledore spoke about whenever he popped up, to identify the active members of Voldemort's Death Eaters. Information was the lifeblood of any successful campaign, according to Moody, who Remus expected knew about this kind of thing. It seemed more like the terrifying auror had taken control of the day-to-day running of things, though James had expressed the opinion that he was merely executing Dumbledore's orders.

The most they'd seen of the aged professor was the day he'd attempted to teach them all to cast a talking patronus. Remus had picked it up quickly enough, as had a handful of the members, including James and Sirius. Peter was not alone in not being able to get a handle on it. From the slightly pained expression on Dumbledore's face suggested that it had been a long time since he'd actually tried to teach anyone anything other than a philosophical truth.

Eventually it had gotten to midnight, and the guests had been talking heatedly for quite some time. Although they hadn't yet worked out a way to break through their privacy enchantments and listen in on their conversation without being detected, Remus had been tasked with noting who was talking the most, and who was listening to who. It was a deadly dull job, as he expected all stakeout work would turn out to be.

'I'm getting hand cramp,' Peter muttered. Remus shrugged.

'I don't know what you want me to do about it. Write better?' he snapped irritably. Peter sighed.

'What use is this?' he asked 'It's not like we know what they're talking about,'

'If we know who's giving the orders, then we know what the central parts of the organisation are. We can work out who's essential, and who's a weak link to be leaned on. This could be very important for what we do next,' Remus explained as patiently as he could with a seized up back.

'Huh, well when you put it like that I-'

'Shut up for a second Peter,' Remus said suddenly, sticking his hand up for silence. The quill was scratching over the parchment again at an alarming rate. He frowned. The last of the Death Eaters had turned up over an hour ago. The group in the manor had paused too, a sudden silence falling across the crowded table.

The figures that now entered the meeting room commanded the silence as much through fear as through respect. Tall, pale skinned in robes of the deepest black, that swayed like leaves in the darkness, eyes that seemed to glow red with a malevolent, intelligent cruelty that chilled Remus to his bones. The bald head surveyed the minions gathered before him, a smile playing across thin lips that had nothing to do with humour. Bellatrix Lestrange leapt up from her seat next to her husband at the head of the table and rushed forward, prostrating herself before her Dark Lord and Master.

'Sweet Merlin,' Remus breathed 'It's Voldemort,'

Peter stopped writing and looked up, his face a picture of panic and despair.

'D-don't say the name,' he stammered, voice quavering with fear 'Are you sure it's him?'. No matter he tough the new Peter appeared on the outside, it seemed he was still the same old Wormtail underneath. Remus gave an uneasy smile.

'It's kind of hard to mistake him,' he muttered. They'd not expected He Who Must Not Be Named to turn up to the meeting himself, and he couldn't help but feel sharp, cold shivers of fear stoking their way up through his palms to the soft spot under his neck. He drummed his fingers on the telescope nervously, and forced himself to look back again. Voldemort was speaking and every one of the sycophantic, psychopathic monsters that threatened wizarding society were hanging off every malignant word. Perhaps there was some rage mixed in with that fear.

'Who arrived with him?' Peter asked. Remus frowned.

'What?' he muttered, fixated by the monstrous figure that had appeared in his view.

'The quill says that two turned up just then. You Know Who's one, who's the other?' Peter asked, holding his own quill as though it might suddenly break free of his grasp and make an escape attempt. Remus hummed in concentration, then noticed the small, shadowy figure stood at the Dark Lord's left hand.

'It's Snivellus!' Remus barked 'Of course that greasy git signed up. Looks like he's one of Voldemort's favourites by the way he's getting fawned over,'

'We'll have to tell Sirius about this, he'll have a field day,' Peter said, barely suppressing a snort of laughter. Remus couldn't help but smile.

'Wait until we tell Lily, she'll love it,' he said, smirking. Remus had never had the same uncontrollable rage regarding Severus Snape that James and Sirius had subscribed to, but by no means did he like or sympathise with him. A bad haircut and a bad attitude could be forgiven, but the loathful Slytherin's unnatural obsession with the dark arts had always sat badly with Remus.

Peter still hadn't forgotten that they were now only a few hundred yards away from the most dangerous wizard currently at large in the UK.

'What are we going to do?' he asked, chewing worriedly on the end of his quill. Remus put on a brave face for his friend.

'We'll keep doing what we're doing and keep our head down. C'mon Wormtail, d'you really think that Moody wouldn't tell us if we were in trouble?' he said, trying, as ever, to see more confident than he actually was. He supposed that confidence was more about front than it was about actually feeling no fear.

'What if Moody's already dead?' Peter said, giving voice to a fear that had been niggling in the back of his mind since Voldemort had apparated onto the scene. Remus smiled weakly.

'It'll take more than a house full of Death Eaters and Voldemort himself to take down Mad-Eye Moody,' he said. Peter didn't laugh.

'Don't say the name,' he muttered quietly, settling back down into the corner in silence. They sat like that for a little while, before a dull silvery light passed in through the back wall. Squinting at it, he could see the light was in the form of a scarred, gnarled badger. Remus raised an eyebrow - it must have taken some serious manoeuvring to get Moody's patronus through the woods to the hut without the manor noticing.

'Don't panic. Stay where you are. Leave as soon as the coast is clear. Do _not _attract attention to yourself,' Moody's badger said in a voice that was hushed, but firm. Remus felt instantly soothed and settled back down into his seat much more comfortably.

'There you go,' he said casually 'We just wait,'

Peter did not look convinced.

The Death Eaters left the mansion an hour or so later, by which time Remus was trying very hard not to fall asleep. What did keep him awake was a seething sensation of rage almost unlike any he had ever felt before. The way the assorted villains sauntered down the country lane before casually disapparating, laughing with each other and chatting as if they'd done nothing more than spend an evening at the pub, it set his teeth on edge. How could they be so calm, so at ease with what they were doing to people that they could _laugh _about it? If he hadn't been forcing himself to stay at the telescope and keep watch, he was sure he'd be pacing the room in a rage. The moon was waxing and his temper was always on edge during this time.

Peter seemed aware of his tension from the way he kept his head down, scribbling furiously as Remus read his reports out in a tight monotone. By two in the morning everything seemed to have gone quiet, and the pair could barely keep their eyes open. The lights had gone out in the mansion, and apparently the Lestranges had gone to bed. As time creeped on Peter started to get restless.

'Can't we go yet?' he grouched, leaning back on his chair 'We've got all we're going to get,'

'Not just yet,' Remus murmured 'I've got a feeling we've missed something,'

'I've got work tomorrow,' Peter moaned 'I need to be up by seven,'

'Get yourself some coffee,' Remus suggested pointedly.

'We haven't all got some cushy job at Flourish and Blott's Remus, some of us actually have to work for-' his friend started, before being hushed furiously by a frantically waved hand.

'Do you hear that?' Remus mouthed.

There was the sound of boots tramping across the first sprinklings of an autumn frost, heading right towards the cabin. Peter let out a frightened squeak that earned a glare from Remus as he flicked his wand to extinguish the lamp. In the sudden murky gloom, Remus felt the air shift ever so slightly as Peter shifted into rat form and scurried into the corner. Unable, and unwilling, to turn into the wolf at will, Remus pressed himself up against the wall of the cabin next to the window, praying that the owner of the boots wasn't feeling particularly observant.

'Hurry brother,' a voice hissed, harsh against the silence of the night.

'It's late,' a deep voice boomed, not cowed by the darkness or the quiet 'And I have no desire to waste my time with one of your pointless little foibles Rodolphus,'

The Lestrange brothers, out on a midnight excursion. It could only be bad news for some poor, unsuspecting target out there who had done something to earn their displeasure. Experience at school had taught him that the pair were not to be trifled with - James and Rabastan had once duelled next to the lake over his brother's shameless cheating in the Quidditch final. It had left James vomiting blood for the last week of third year, unable to say anything other than to curse the Lestrange that had spawned them.

Remus only hoped that the poor unfortunate today wasn't him.

'You heard the Dark Lord, brother. This is not some mere passing fancy for me, or for Him. We must cleanse our own bloodline of impurity before we can truly start to make true lasting changes to the order of things,' Rodolphus said, his voice low and insidious, full of a passion that made Remus' skin crawl.

'Our blood is pure,' Rabastan said, his deep voice suddenly dropping dangerously quiet 'Need I remind you of our family tree?'

'There is no need brother,' Rodolphus said urgently 'The impurity doesn't lie with us,'

There was a deathly silence for another few seconds, and Remus was sure he was about to hear one brother curse the other. Then Rabastan let out a deep breath.

'Your wife,' he said, voice dripping with scorn 'Bellatrix. Of course she's causing problems for us, I warned you about her from the start. As if having that demented girl running off with a _Muggle_ wasn't enough. What has the mad dog's family done now?'

'That's my wife,' Rodolphus said, a growl growing at the back of his throat. Rabastan let out a cruel laugh.

'Oh yes, your doting wife,' he boomed 'The dear, devoted, loving girl. Tell me, have you fathered a son on her yet? Does the Lestrange line continue?'

There was an indistinct sound that Remus couldn't quite make out.

'What was that brother?' Rabastan seethed.

'No, I haven't,' Rodolphus said weakly. His elder brother made a satisfied sound.

'So what now? What have the Blacks done to disgrace our name this time?' Rabastan demanded, apparently taking a cruel delight in tormenting his younger brother.

'It's her cousin, Sirius,' Rodolphus said miserably as Remus stifled a gasp 'He's joined up with Dumbledore's little band of misfits, means to make trouble for the Dark Lord. The delinquent brat is a blood traitor through and through - Mulciber says he lives with a werewolf for pity's sake. The very thought of it is unseemly. No, Sirius Black has to go brother, and tonight's as good a night as any for it,'

Remus clenched a fist. They were going after Sirius. He knew he had to do something, but his mind was adrift and he wasn't sure what exactly he should do. He couldn't do anything now, he'd blow their cover and give away the Order's activities - although the Lestranges already seemed to know something about them. He knew that Sirius had spell warded the apartment - in case of any escape attempts by the wolf. Maybe he'd be able to hold out long enough until Remus could send reinforcements to back him up.

'You know where to find him?' Rabastan asked, having considered his brother's problem.

'I do,' he said eagerly 'I've had Mulciber following him. He always slips away before he gets to his apartment, but he's been spending a lot of time in Muggle London. Mulciber thinks he knows where Black's going to be tonight,'

There was more hurried talking from the two brothers but Remus couldn't hear it, his heart was pounding in his ear. They'd been following Sirius? For how long? Had they been able to eavesdrop on the Order's meetings or had Sirius been able to lose them? Did his friend even know anything was amiss?

Two loud cracks brought him back to himself as the Lestrange brothers disappeared into the night. For a half second Remus was still frozen in terror, but eventually he managed to get his limbs to respond to his brain's frantic commands. A flick of his wand and the lamp ignited, illuminating the cabin and the quill which had began writing again, almost at the end of the parchment.

'Peter! Did you hear that?' Remus shouted, as the corner which had previously held a rat, now held a short stocky young man looking sheepish.

'Yes, they've been following Padfoot,' the animagus said wretchedly 'But what can we do?'

'We can follow them,' Remus said urgently, following the writing of the quill 'This thing's given me an address in Notting Hill,'

'But Moody-' Peter started, before Remus nodded and pulled out his wand.

'You're right, of course,' he said 'Expecto Patronum,'

He focused on a happy memory, the first time James had stood up for him by hexing Lucius Malfoy until he grew boils on his backside, and a silvery form shot out the end of his wand. The great, spectral wolf trotted round to face it's conjurer, pale eyes almost weary. Remus eyed it equally as uneasily - he'd never really found his Patronus particularly comforting.

'Tell Moody that the Death Eaters have been spying on Sirius Black. The Lestrange brothers are going to kill him tonight, and I'm going to try and intercept them. Peter, you wait here and tell Marlene and Moody the rest of it,' he said. The silvery wolf looked up at him for a second, then trotted out through the cabin wall into the night.

'But Remus, what if you need me?' Peter blurted out, wringing his hands. Remus smiled. He was sure that his friend would rather wait here when it was safe, then jump in under the safety of dangerous Auror's such as Moody, but he appreciated the thought.

'Don't worry about me Peter, I'll be alright. Just make sure that the other two know where to go,' he said earnestly, clapping his friend on the shoulder 'It'll be alright,'

And with that said, Remus turned around on the spot, focusing very hard on the address in Notting Hill he'd been given, and Apparated into thin air. He felt that familiar compression around his ribs, like a giant was trying to squeeze the air out of him, and then he was stumbling onto the pavement in a Muggle street, head fuzzing and unfocused. Remus always found Apparating much more difficult when he'd never actually been to a place before.

He turned and stared around the street, which was quite pleasant and up market, even for wizarding standards. Black fences, more ornate than the unsettling one at the Lestrange manor, cut off smaller sections of trees and park away from the row of matching houses, all of which must probably have cost a small fortune. Remus suddenly, ridiculously, felt underdressed for the location, with his tattered robes and battered wand. He pushed aside the usual feeling of awkwardness and tried to focus on where to go next - the quill had only given a street name, not a house number.

Whilst he was looking for signs of a wizarding entry on the houses in front of him, he saw it. Floating airily in the sky above a house at the end of the street, almost hidden by the strange cloud formation that filled up the night's sky. A huge skull in the night's sky, constructed of emerald green light that almost burnt the eye, a serpent forcing it's way from between the skull's jaw, like some kind of perverse tongue. Remus felt his blood run cold.

'Sirius,' he murmured, hurrying towards the house at a run, robes flapping out behind him.

The painted green door to the house had been blown inwards, hanging awkwardly at an angle off of the one hinge that was still attached. Remus pushed his way past it and into the dark, silent house. There was a staircase in front of him, a dark living room off to the left, and a small kitchenette to the right. Through the gloom he could see a small figure in the kitchen, so he moved forwards quietly, hoping to clear the house of Muggles before he rescued Sirius.

As he approached the figure, the moon crept out from underneath the clouds and shone a sickly light in through the window. She was old, maybe mid-seventies, in a nightgown with a look of abject horror across her face. She had crumpled backwards across the small round table that had been set up in the tiny kitchen, and it propped her up somewhat, giving her the look of someone who was leaning rather than collapsed. Her eyes stared glassily up at the ceiling and, though there were no marks on her, Remus could tell that she was dead. The Lestrange brothers must have run into her on their hunt for their distant relative.

Before he could think any more on the matter, the still silence of the house was interrupted by the blood curdling scream of a young woman, a scream that Remus had a feeling would be magically prevented from being heard in the street. It was all he could do not to sprint up the stairs to the source, his heart was pounding so. He leant carefully against the wall, looking onwards at a room at the end of the landing with the door blown in.

The Lestrange brothers were tall men, broad shouldered and imposing. Rabastan, the elder, had a more muscular figure, barely fitting into the fine black robes he wore, and a tougher, more weathered face. Rodolphus, by comparison, looked like the picture of aristocratic elegance with a well trimmed black beard that accentuated the cruel smile that played across his lips. They were both in their element now, nasty grins lighting up their faces as they tortured the Muggle girl on the bed in front of them.

Sirius was laid down next to her, completely immobile. Remus wasn't close enough to see, but he could well imagine the impotent anger in Sirius eyes as they bored into the Death Eater brothers. Neither he nor the girl were wearing much, and Remus could see Sirius' wand tucked into the back of Rabastan's robes. The girl was crying now, trying to curl up into a ball away from her attackers, harsh sobs shaking her body.

'Shall we make her dance again cousin?' Rodolphus asked, sick laughter in his voice. Sirius could make no sound or movement, but the brothers laughed at the look on his face.

'_Crucio!_' Rabastan said, pointing his wand at the weeping Muggle girl. The effect was instantaneous, like someone was passing an electric current through her as she let out that same ear splitting scream. Her back arched off of the bed, nails digging into her palms and drawing blood, legs twitching spastically.

It was that sight more than anything that shocked Remus into action. He lent carefully around the wall and levelled his wand at the bigger Lestrange brother.

'_Stu-_'

'_STUPEFY!'_

The bolt of red light passed just over Remus' shoulder as he moved to fire his spell, knocking his wand out of his hand as it did so. Before he could turn to see who had attempted to Stun him, he felt a strong arm wrap itself around his neck, choking him. His hands leapt to the arm, attempting to pry it away from his throat and let the air back into his lungs. Instead he felt a fist harshly jab into his kidneys, and even more wind was knocked out of him. He stumbled, the arm around his neck now holding him up as he let out an unpleasant gurgling sound.

'What was that?'

'I'll look. Watch Black, I'm not done with him yet,'

He could hear the Lestrange brothers talking, but as if from very far away. His vision was being blurred with bright spots of colour that hurt his head. Remus concentrated, and in a quick movement, lifted his legs against the wall and pressed backwards as if jumping off it. The figure choking him over-balanced and they both fell backwards down the stairs. Remus felt his skull bounce off of the banister and then he landed in a tangled heap above the other man.

The man groaned and tried to pick himself up, but Remus got there first. If there was one thing that turning into a Dark creature every month had taught him, it was resilience when faced with minor injuries and accidents. Wandless, he grabbed the man by the front of his robes and landed a harsh punch on his jaw that gave Remus pins and needles along his hand. The figure stopped struggling so much and spat out some blood weakly that rolled down his chin. Now that the oxygen was starting to return to his brain Remus could see that his assailant was Donald Mulciber, the Death Eater that Lestrange had sent to follow Sirius.

'Stupid, stupid,' Remus muttered to himself. Of course Mulciber was still there, he had probably been keeping watch for the Lestranges from the park. How could he have been so foolish as to forget. His brain started to pick up speed, and he realised he'd forgotten something else. He was still in the house. With the Lestranges.

'Oh shit,' he spat, lifting Mulciber's unresisting body up in front of him as a kind of shield as a dirty yellow bolt shot towards him. It struck Mulciber full in the back, and his eyes opened wide, full of panicked confusion. Then he vomited blood all down the front of Remus' robes. Remus dropped him with disgust and rolled out of the way into the dark living room as another yellow bolt hit the carpet beside him, leaving a smoking hole. Remus' hand darted out of cover quickly, pulling the wand away from a retching Mulciber.

He couldn't help but grin - he was armed.

'_Protego!_' he shouted as he dove towards the stairs, just in time to deflect a black bolt of something off to hit a cuckoo clock that quickly disintegrated. The shield charm wasn't as strong as it would have been with Remus' own wand, which he could see lying unattended at the top of the stairs, but it would do for now. Rabastan stepped out of the cover of the wall and made a strange circular gesture with his thick wand.

'_Serpensortia!' _Lestrange hissed in his deep voice. A huge black cobra came shooting out of the Death Eater's wand towards him, as Remus was forced to drop his shield and make a sharp cutting motion through the air.

'_Diffindo!_' he shouted, slicing the cobra into two messy halves that landed either side of him. He had to quickly dive out of the way as Lestrange followed up with the nasty looking disintegration curse that landed in the spot Remus had just been standing. The young Order member took a deep breath before diving out again.

'_Incendio!_' he yelled, shooting a huge jet of flame up towards the tall Death Eater, scorching the wallpaper on either side. Lestrange merely grinned in response and flicked his wand upwards. The jet of flame was met by a fountain of water in the middle of the staircase. Some spray of the boiling water fell upon Remus, who jumped back with a hiss, but most of it turned into steam that completely hid the Death Eater from view.

'_AVADA KEDAVRA!_'

Remus dove into the kitchenette as a sickly green light filled the staircase, landing just short of Mulciber's still vomiting form. Remus looked at the stricken Death Eater aghast - was Lestrange really so bloodthirsty as to kill his own people?

'Do that again Lestrange,' he shouted 'It might solve us some problems later,'

The response from the upstairs landing was a mad cackle.

'Enjoy yourself brother,' Rabastan shouted back into the bedroom 'This one won't be a problem,'

Remus considered his options for a minute. Lestrange could match him in a straight duel, that much he'd seen already, so he needed to outthink the Death Eater in order to beat him. That much was obvious, even through the ringing in his head from his fall down the stairs. He looked about for some kind of help. He could bring the roof down, but that might end up with Sirius and the girl getting hurt as well. If only he could get Lestrange out of cover for a little while he might have a sporting chance.

Remus grinned as a thought occurred. He leapt back into view of Lestrange, who instantly started firing off a string of curses.

'_REDUCTO!_' Remus shouted, pointing his wand a little to the left of where Rabastan was shooting from. Instead of being blocked by the Death Eater's shield, the destructive curse struck the wall that he had been hiding behind. What had been his cover turned into an exploding mass of brick splinters that struck Lestrange full on in the face. As the Death Eater screamed in pain, Remus started to sprint up the stairs. As he reached the top Rabastan was just lifting his wand away from his bloodied face to point back down the stairs.

'_Stupefy,_' Remus said, before he could fire off any more dangerous spells. The red stunner hit Lestrange full in the chest, and he fell forward unconscious into a pool of his own blood. Remus let out a breath of relief, then grabbed his own wand.

'_CRUCIO!_'

Remus felt every nerve in his body alight with fiery pain as the curse ran through him. His hands clenched around the two wands in his hand, then spasmed and dropped them to the ground. His head beat frantically against his skull, and he could feel someone jabbing what felt like a very large needle up his back, through his spine. Then the pain stopped, and Remus looked up to see Rodolphus Lestrange standing at the entrance to the bedroom with a sinister smile. The young werewolf tried to reach for the wands again but was struck with the torturous curse for a second time.

This time he screamed, dropping to his knees and clawing at his hair frantically. It felt like all of his worst transformations at once, twisting and ripping his body apart in the most painful way possible. He knew it only went on for a minute or two, but it was enough to feel like a lifetime as he crumpled into a pile at the top of the stairs. By the time he regained his senses, Lestrange was standing over him and his voice was horse from screaming. He pushed Remus over with the toe of his boot, which he then rested on Remus' heaving chest, wand pointed at his face.

'Lupin isn't it?' Rodolphus asked, like they'd run into each other at a cafe instead of a duel 'One of Dumbledore's favourites if I remember rightly? Well, we'll see if he still likes what's left of you once I'm done,'

Both Sirius and the girl floated out into the hallway as if suspended by strings, like some kind of horrible human marionette. Now Remus could see his friend's eyes, which were flashing furiously with a rage he'd very rarely seen before. The girl's face seemed to be locked into some silent scream that Remus found very unsettling. Rodolphus followed his gaze to the girl and gave a deep, cruel laugh.

'Pretty, isn't she? If she weren't so beneath us I might understand Sirius' thinking,' he said 'Ah well, love is fleeting. Is better to have loved and lost, than to have never known it at all,'

He made a strange jerking motion with his wand and a deep cut opened on the girl's throat. Blood cascaded down from her onto the carpet, splashing over both her bare legs and Sirius'. The look in his eyes had gone from rage to panic and fear so very quickly. Remus could do nothing but stare in horror as Lestrange killed the girl, as casually as if one might squash a bug.

'Oh, I'm sorry cousin, were you using her?' Rodolphus asked, as though he'd broken his relative's favourite toy.

'_STUPEFY!'_

The call bellowed from the bottom of the stairs, by the front door, and it was by as much luck as it was skill that Lestrange dodged out of the way of it. Remus used what little energy he had left to look down at the source of the spell. There, hair bedraggled, face twisted into a rictus of rage, was Mad-Eye Moody, huge wand held out levelly in front of him. At either side stood Peter Pettigrew, looking scared but determined, and Marlene McKinnon, blonde haired tied up into a bun, wand held above her head in a strange stance that Remus had not seen before. Remus couldn't help but chuckle, and spat a little blood out of his mouth onto the carpet.

'You're in for it now,' he muttered to Lestrange.

'Shut up,' the Death Eater spat, pointing his wand into the hollow of Remus' neck 'Watch yourself Moody. One false step and I kill your two little friends here,'

'Rodolphus Lestrange, I hereby use my status as head of the Auror office to issue a warrant for your arrest. You stand accused of murder, torture of Muggles, use of the Cruciatus curse, consorting with the fugitive Voldemort as well as assorted others, and threatening use of violence against an Auror,' Moody said, speaking levelly in his gruff voice, though Remus could detect the undercurrent of rage bubbling under the surface 'If you come without resistance it will stand you stead in the Court of the Wizengamot. How say you?'

There was a tense second as the three Order members squared off against Lestrange. Remus attempted to shift out of their line of fire slightly, but all it got was another jab at his neck, which stilled him. He breathed heavily.

'Don't hesitate for a second Moody, the man's a monster,' he shouted, his voice wheezy and broken from the screaming. Lestrange's response was to stamp his boot down on Remus' chest, which gave a nasty crack and a searing stab of pain. He saw Peter wince, and Marlene turn pale, whilst Moody only gave a twitch of a cheek.

'What say you Lestrange?' Moody barked, his voice harsher this time.

'I say burn,' Rodolphus Lestrange said, twirling his wand and setting fire to the staircase for the second time that evening. Remus felt a boot hit him in the chin, which snapped his jaw shut, and by the time he twisted around Lestrange had grabbed his brother by the shoulder.

'We'll meet again Lupin, I'm sure of it,' he shouted, then turned on the spot. The Lestrange brothers Disapparated with a crack, leaving Sirius and Lupin alone on the landing. Sirius dropped to the floor in an untidy heap, his invisible strings cut. Wordlessly, he reached out to the dead girl, and brought his arms around her shoulders, holding her cold, bloody body against his. Remus looked away, eyes stinging at the sight of the intensely private moment. He was thankful when he heard footsteps behind him and the reinforcements arrived.

'Lupin, what on earth did you think you were doing?'

'Alastor, look at the state of them,'

'Oh Sweet Merlin, Sirius, what happened to you?'

'I think Lupin's got a concussion, I'll have a look,'

Remus was aware of the babble of voices but couldn't make any sense out of them. He felt his head being lifted into someone's lap, and suddenly he was gazing up into the devastatingly beautiful face of Marlene McKinnon. He felt her stroking the bloodied fringe out of his face, cool hands running over grazes and old scars. He let out a breathy sigh. He could get used to this kind of treatment.

''m sorry,' he mumbled, his head cloudy, his eyes sleepy 'I couldn't wait. Tell Sirius that I...'

Marlene hushed him soothingly 'Don't worry about it now,' she said 'Sleep now. Just sleep. Just sleep,'

There was something bewitching about her voice, he thought, as his eyes closed and he slipped into a deep sleep, full of green flashes and bloodied girls.


	4. Waking Up

The next few days for Remus were a blur of potions, Healers, and awkward muttered conversations with friends. He'd woken up in the Spell Damage Ward of St Mungo's a couple of hours after his duel with the Lestrange brothers, at first slightly confused as to why he wasn't in Hogwart's Hospital Wing, before he remembered he had left school that summer. He blinked the early morning sun out of his eyes and shifted to sit up, but a stabbing pain around his ribs brought him up short. He collapsed back onto the bed with a soft gasp, screwing his eyes shut.

'Sit back and relax Lupin,' Marlene McKinnon said from the chair next to his bed, looking as tired as he felt 'the Healers say Lestrange's curse took a lot out of you,'

'Sirius,' Remus muttered, his throat raw from screaming 'Is he-?'

'Sirius is okay,' said another voice from the door 'Angriest I've ever seen him though. He would have gone out and murdered the Lestranges in their sleep if Dumbledore hadn't talked him out of it,'

Lily was stood at the door to the room, her arms folded, looking unusually grim. Her clothes were crumpled and pulled on haphazardly, hair a mess, and eyes slightly red as though she had been crying. She still managed to look glad to see him awake.

'Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me,' he croaked, reaching for a glass of water on the beside table. Lily shrugged and sat down at the end of the bed.

'James is with him now, making sure he doesn't do anything stupid. You know how he gets when he's cooped up inside,' she said 'He wanted to be here,'

'Don't worry about it,' Remus said with a wave of his hand 'It's my own fault for not keeping an eye on both Lestranges at the same time. Who was the girl, do we know?'

Lily and Marlene shared a grave look before the blonde shrugged. He wondered vaguely why the two of them were there when he'd shrugged off worse injuries in a jiffy in the Hospital Wing, before he looked at the dog-eared calendar hanging off the wall. It was the twenty-fifth today, which gave him three days until the next full moon. Remus always felt a bit unstable as the moon drew closer, less able to control his emotions, his impulses, and his temper. James had probably sent Lily along to keep an eye on him, whilst Dumbledore may well have assigned one of his top Aurors along to make sure that Remus didn't drag the Order's reputation through the mud. Another disadvantage of working with a werewolf.

'Her name was Karen Williams, apparently Black had been seeing her for the last couple of weeks. He met her in a bar near the Leaky Cauldron,' Marlene said 'The old woman in the kitchen was her landlady. Black says he didn't tell anyone, he's got no idea how they found her,'

'They've had Mulciber tailing him for a couple of days,' Remus said, his voice dry, but his eyes fixed on a distant point out the window 'I dunno how long they had the address for, Lestrange made it sound like they were acting on new information,'

'Leave the report for now Lupin,' Marlene said, not unkindly 'I'm sure Mad-Eye will want to rake you over the coals before too long,'

Remus gave her a nervous smile and settled back into his pillow. The thought of having to face Moody over his incompetence wasn't something he was going to be looking forward to. He could already picture being interrogated by that bright blue eye, and he squirmed uncomfortably in his patients robes. Marlene didn't seem to notice his discomfort, a fact that he was secretly thankful for - he didn't want to seem like a nervous schoolboy in front of the stunning witch. Lily, however, was giving him a thoughtful stare with her piercing green eyes.

'Marlene, can you give us a minute?' she asked, still looking like she was trying to see through him. Marlene raised her blonde eyebrows and looked quickly between the pair, then gave a shrug and walked out the room.

'Leave some for me,' Remus heard her whisper to Lily as she went. The redhead rolled her eyes and took the seat next to the bed.

'Come on Lupin,' she said with a smile 'Out with it. How're you feeling?'

'Like somebody hit me twice with the Cruciatus. Can't think why,' Remus said dryly 'Oh no wait, I think I recall...'

'Are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to start hexxing you?' Lily said, her eyes flashing. Remus gave an awkward shrug.

'I...let him down,' Remus said bleakly, his eyes fixing on that far off point again 'Sirius...I...I meant t-to look out for him. And I didn't. I let him down. I let all of us down. Lestrange kicked me all over the place, and I couldn't save the girl. Moody and McKinnon had to rescue me as well as Sirius, and the Death Eaters got away. And now you lot are having to babysit me in case I wolf out and attack someone, when you could be out doing something useful for Dumbledore. The Order would be better off without me,'

Lily sat back quietly whilst Remus continued his tirade, his throat getting quite choked up as he spoke. She delicately looked away for a second after he'd finished, allowing Remus to recover a small tatter of his dignity, taking a glass of water from the bedside.

'Are you done now?' she asked cooly.

'With what?' Remus asked, feeling the conversation slipping away from him. Lily had the air about her she normally got when she was getting ready for a rant, but normally it was directed at James or Sirius. He had usually slipped beneath her radar before.

'With being a self pitying, angsty toerag,' Lily said witheringly, raising her hand for silence when Remus went to interrupt 'You duelled two Death Eaters at once, one of which we took into custody. Mad-Eye took Mulciber back to the Ministry for questioning - ah, you'd forgotten about him, had you? Yes well, you did that well enough. Nevermind having to save you as well, the Order was only able to get to Sirius in time because you'd worked out what was going on-'

'That wasn't my quick wit or anything, I overheard it on the stakeout,' Remus protested.

'Yeah, well Peter seems to think you made them stay behind because you thought something might be going on. Whatever else, you saved Sirius' life. And the reason I am here is because I am your friend, in case you'd forgotten. Quite apart from the fact that you'd taken enough curses to send you to hospital, I thought you'd be shaken up by seeing Karen - the girl - die,' Lily said, her voice getting slightly softer 'You...there was nothing anyone could have done. The Death Eaters had marked them...by the time anyone found out about it, she was as good as dead already. You...you did as well as anyone could have Remus, even Dumbledore, you must believe me. You must believe me,'

Remus felt himself getting slightly teary eyed again, and turned on his side to avoid her seeing so. He blamed it on a lack of sleep and it being his time of the month. Lily put out a pale hand and patted him reassuringly on the shoulder, which he appreciated. He wasn't sure his ribs were feeling quite up to a hug just yet. He heard a knock at the door, and looked up to see Marlene with a mug of coffee in each hand.

'Is it safe to come in yet?' she asked with a slightly nervous smile. Remus was sure he heard Lily laugh a little under her breath as she answered.

'Yeah sure, I was just heading off,' she said, before whispering in Remus' ear 'And _she _hasn't left your side since they brought you in. Enjoy yourself,'

And then with a green wink, and a flash of red hair, she whisked out of the door, leaving Remus alone with a woman he had hardly spoken more than a few words to before. He smiled nervously and brought the sheets up a little higher about his waist.

'I hope one of those is for me,' he said, gesturing at the coffee. Marlene raised a blonde eyebrow and sat down in the chair.

'Oh no, it's for the Third Brother, he's hiding over in the corner, didn't you realise?' she said archly, passing him over the mug. Remus gave her a half smile, before taking a long sip. He gave a deep sigh of satisfaction and placed it on the table.

'Just how I like it,' he said mildly, settling back on the pillows.

'What can I say, I know how to size a man up,' she said, and he thought he saw something a little more than merriment sparkling in her light blue eyes.

'Oh do you now?'

'I do indeed,' she said, shifting her chair around to better look him in the eyes 'It's part of what makes me one of the best Aurors of my generation,'

'Does your modesty come into it at all? Coffee is hardly a the most definitive of subjects,' Remus said, arching an eyebrow. Marlene gave him a dazzling smile.

'Give me something difficult then,' she said, brushing her blonde locks over her shoulder. Remus considered for a second and then smiled devilishly.

'My favourite song?' he asked. Remus felt those eyes, so light that they were almost grey, examining him like he was a particularly interesting book.

'Something Muggle,' she said after some consideration 'Quite old, and stately. Perhaps something your mother used to play,'

Remus couldn't help but betray his surprise. His favourite record was indeed a Muggle song his mother had been fond of, often playing serenely from the record player in the study. He couldn't remember the name of the singer, but he remembered what she sang; a song without regret. He gave Marlene a small nod.

'Passable,' he said with a small smile 'Favourite book?'

'I would say something classical, but you find your name uncomfortable,' she said at once 'Unless perhaps..._The Further Adventures of Ulysses _by Collingwood?'

His eyebrows made their way even further into his hairline. He had liked the myths and legends his father had told him as a child, but grew uncomfortable about it after his bite. Remus the werewolf - it would have seemed comical if it were not so crushingly sad. But he had found a book in the Hogwarts library in his third year, a modern retelling of the tales through wizarding eyes that had captured his imagination. The book had taken him away to far off lands, had him doing battle with evil monsters who did not turn back into a boy when the sun came up, pulled him out of his troubles for a little while. He still read it once a year.

'Legilimency?' Remus asked with a small smirk.

'A true artist doesn't need it,' she said triumphantly 'A few key observations, some vague word association, and then one lucky guess,'

They chatted like that for quite some time, talking about their respective times at school, the highs and lows of being an Auror, and, of course, the war. It was quite nice to talk to an attractive woman that was already aware of his...condition, and seemed to enjoy his company despite that. Just over an hour later, Marlene looked up at the clock in horror, declared she was late for a meeting and hurried out of the room like the hounds of hell were on her tail. Remus supposed that he would probably act like that if Moody were his boss.

Of course, his grilling with Moody came the next day. It wasn't quite as bad as Remus had been dreading through out the night. Some phrases were used a lot, such as 'dereliction of duty' and 'half-cocked, fool hardy idiocy', whilst others were merely unrepeatable in polite company. Still, the grizzled Auror couldn't completely hide his satisfaction with the night's work.

'We've got something of an idea about what they're planning next,' Moody growled 'We'll fill you in at the next meeting. And we got Mulciber, so that's something. His dad's big in the inner circle, so it might be something of a blow. You didn't do too badly,'

With an almost companionable clap on the shoulder Moody left the room with a broad sweep of his cloak, leaving a slightly stunned Remus in his wake. He took a restorative potion twice a day, handed to him by some harried looking assistant Healer's, and slept through the night quite peacefully. It was almost a guarantee that they would have him out of the hospital by the full moon - he knew from experience that St Mungo's made a habit of not accommodating werewolves. Which was, he supposed, fair enough since said werewolf would probably have destroyed anywhere it was left overnight. Because most of them didn't have animagi around them to keep them somewhat sane.

He received a few more well-wishers over the next day or so, including James and Peter, though Sirius had been notably absent. Dumbledore had sent Rubeus Hagrid, the huge Hogwarts gamekeeper, to stand watch over Remus' room at night, in case any unwelcome visitors turned up, and he provided a pleasant distraction from the sickening potions. Remus' father visited once, briefly, the first night after Lily owled him. Remus' mother, of course, would not visiting ever again, a fact that had rather spoiled the visit.

Remus' brief stay in St Mungo's came to an end the Friday night before his transformation, when Healer Fenwick dropped by his room.

'Ah, Mr Lupin,' Fenwick said, checking the chart hanging off the bottom of the bed 'Feeling any better this evening?'

'Somewhat,' Remus said with a weak smile 'I can't say I like the taste of the potions around here,'

'Yes, slightly sterile aren't they?' Fenwick said, observing him over the top of his horn rimmed spectacles.

The Healer was a broad shouldered man, a few years older than Remus, with dark hair that was greying at his temples, matching his worry lined face. They had met briefly after he'd been admitted, when Fenwick assured him that all of the potions were brewed by him personally, as opposed to the hordes of assistants that were constantly flitting in and out.

'So, you got hit by a pretty bad Cruciatus curse,' Fenwick said, his eyes flicking over the report from behind his glasses 'Any Dark Wizard in particular, or did you not see their face?'

'Rodolphus Lestrange,' Remus said with a shrug. Moody had told him that a warrant was out for the Lestranges' arrest, and that their manor in Yorkshire had gone unattended for the last few nights. Since it was all over the Daily Prophet, although his name had stayed out of it, there seemed little harm in telling the genial Healer. Fenwick sucked a sharp breath through his teeth.

'Yes, a Lestrange would probably have been able to manage something like this. Always been a powerful family, if a little twisted, so they tell it,' he said, then seemed to give Remus a once over 'You're still looking a little peaky though. Your immune system must be shot with something if you aren't up and dodging curses again yet,'

'It's the full moon tomorrow night,' Remus said, not quite meeting the man's eyes. He would have thought that something like that would have been on his medical records, and indeed, Fenwick looked down at his notes and had the good grace to look embarrassed.

'Ah, right, well, of course it is,' he said hastily 'Got somewhere safe lined up to transform?'

'I was thinking Rodolphus' wardrobe,' Remus said darkly. Fenwick gave a little snort of laughter and dropped the file back onto the bed.

'As good a plan as any,' he said 'Well, you can head home now if you want. You'll have to apparate downstairs I'm afraid, we like to keep the corridors clear for emergencies. Feel free to ask for me if you end up back in here again. Always happy to help out someone who makes life difficult for Death Eaters,'

'Careful who you say that to Healer,' Remus said, all humour dropped from his voice 'It could get you in trouble,'

The harried looking man walked out of the door, towards his next patient, giving a hearty shrug as he did so.

'Can't say that I'd notice much,' the Healer said, before vanishing out of sight. Remus quickly changed out of his hospital robe into his standard shirt, vest, and jeans combination and headed downstairs to apparate.

The flat was pretty much exactly as he'd left it the night he'd gone out on patrol. There were some empty pizza boxes stacked under the table from Sirius' favourite Muggle takeaway, and a few more drained bottles lying about the place than before. Indeed, the flat had a distinctly unlived in feel about it, as though it had been avoided for the last few days.

'Sirius,' he called as he closed the door shut behind him. There was no answer, so he made sure the locking charms were in effect, then headed into the kitchenette. He was feeling weak already and didn't quite have the energy to cook something proper, so he heated up some soup in a pan and ate it at the table, wrapped in one of his more comfortable blankets. The sustenance, small as it was, warmed him instantly and gave him just enough of an energy boost that he was able to grab one of his books to read before he went to bed. The idea that Sirius might be avoiding him was troubling, certainly, but he decided to worry about it when he was thinking slightly clearer.

The answer to that particular problem came sooner than he had been expecting. He'd spent the next day tucked up in bed, alternately reading novels and Order reports, pausing only to write down his retelling of the stakeout and subsequent duel. Remus had checked that the spell reinforced steel door to the panic room was still in working order, though he found it more likely that the wolf would break through the wall first. It was getting towards half five, almost time for the transformation, when Sirius arrived home.

'Morning Moony,' Sirius slurred as he slammed the door shut behind him and bringing a slightly stale waft of firewhiskey. Remus looked up from his large meal (the wolf always being more docile on a full stomach) and checked his watch theatrically.

'It's early evening,' he said, matter of fact. Sirius looked surprised, deep set eyes widening.

'So it is,' he said, sitting down heavily in the flat's most comfy armchair 'I lost track of time around Thursday. I've been drowning my...whatsname...bottom of the glass...you know the...'

'Sorrows?' Remus offered archly. He felt deeply for his friend, but it was hard to be overly sympathetic when one was about to turn into a hideous, bone rending monster.

'That's the thing,' Sirius said with a vague wave 'You feeling 'ny better?'

'Much thankyou,' Remus said, finishing off the roast chicken on his plate before fixing his friend with a piercing look 'And how are you doing?'

'Not bad,' he mumbled 'Better 'nyway. 'M sorry I didn't visit you at St Mungo's, I...well I wasn't much company,'

'Think nothing of it,' Remus said as he packed his dinner plate away 'I am...sorry, about the girl Sirius. If I'd have been a bit faster-'

'Pfft, it was my fault if 'nyone's Moony,' Sirius said 'Karen was a nice kid, dim but nice...we weren't 'nything special...I din't tell her 'nything about...I still should've kept a better eye...well. Like I said, if it was 'nyone's fault it's mine,'

'Are you going to be okay?' Remus asked softly, heading towards the panic room. Sirius shrugged.

'Is what it is. Still got my friends, my health. I'll be up and chasing skirt again in no time, you watch,' he said 'What 're your plans for tonight then? Fancy a little drinky?'

With that Sirius grinned and seemed to pull another bottle of Ogden's Finest from nowhere. Remus smiled sadly and headed into the room.

'It's the fool moon,' he said, gesturing at the boarded up windows hidden behind thick black drapes. Sirius looked like Remus had slapped him and jumped up quickly.

'Mate, I'd totally forgotten,' he said in a panic, heading towards the kitchen rather shakily 'I'll be with you in a second,'

These days it had generally been agreed upon that Sirius would be the one to transform with Remus on the full moon, the other two usually being busy on Order business or something else inescapable. It had been part of the reasoning behind the two of them moving in with each other - it saved an out of control werewolf touring the country.

'I didn't think you'd be up for it tonight, what with...you know,' Remus said. Sirius emerged from under the counter holding what looked like a dog bowl.

'Nonsense,' he said brightly 'You think I'd let a thing like uncontrollable fury, a broken heart, and a damaged liver get in the way of our fun?'

Remus frowned, his fingers tightening on the door frame against his will. Time was getting on...

'What's the dog bowl for?' he asked weakly.

'I want to see if we can get the werewolf drunk,' Sirius said brightly.

And it turned out they could.

**AN: Well that was what it was. I think I'm going to try and implement some kind of smaller set of story arcs, rather than trying to have some grand, overarching Death Eater plot. Please leave any reviews, criticisms, or suggestions, they always make me write faster.**


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